Illinois abortionists 'given complete pass'

     

Statistics show Illinois abortion providers aren't complying with state laws that require them to report abortions and the complications of those procedures.
 
State law requires that details on abortion procedures and any related problems be reported, but Bill Beckman of Illinois Right to Life tells OneNewsNow there is proof of little compliance.

"According to the Guttmacher Institute, there were about 7,000 more abortions in Illinois in 2008 than the state thought there were," Beckman notes. "The other bad news is the fact that there's very little oversight and proper record-keeping related to what's going on with abortionists -- and especially with regard to abortions that go bad."

State records cannot even account for the deaths of women and girls who had abortions. But failing to report those procedures and their complications, he says, is a violation of state law that is subject to revocation of operating licenses. He notes, however, that no disciplinary action has been taken.

"There's been a complete lack of interest with the abortion advocates in charge of the government in the state of Illinois, just as what was going on in Pennsylvania," the Illinois Right to Life spokesman laments. "It's like there's no interest in enforcing the law against abortionists; they're given a complete pass."

His mention of Pennsylvania refers to that state having not inspected the clinic of abortionist Kermit Gosnell for nearly two decades. Gosnell is currently in jail for the death of one mother, along with charges of murdering seven viable babies who were born alive during abortions.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

Wisconsin on its way to defunding abortions

     

Wisconsin lawmakers have sent a bill to Governor Scott Walker (R) that will limit the funds given to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.
 
Matt Sande of Pro-Life Wisconsin reports that the budget bill includes a provision to keep $1 million from Planned Parenthood, the state's biggest abortion-provider, and it passed in both houses.

"What it does is [take] those family planning funds and requires them to go to public entities, county public health departments. And then, in turn, it prohibits those public entities, those county public health departments, from allocating any of the funds to organizations or their affiliates [that] perform or refer for abortion," he explains.

Though that does not defund Planned Parenthood, Sande says it is a good start. Also, another provision prohibits the University of Wisconsin hospital system from paying medical residents to train in performing abortions.

"They have...four two-week rotations for the medical residents in the OB-GYN department to go to the Planned Parenthood facility, the abortion mill in Madison, to train to do abortions," the Wisconsin pro-lifer details. "Obviously, that's reprehensible. And to add insult to injury, they're using state funds to do it."

The bill also bars the hospital from performing late-term abortions. In addition, the current program of providing free taxpayer-funded birth control to 15- to 17-year-olds without parents' knowledge or consent will end.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

Planned Parenthood displays real priorities

     

Indiana Planned Parenthood, which lost $3 million in state funding, is halting services to Medicaid patients.
 
Planned Parenthood took that action pending a federal court decision. At issue is a newly signed law that halts state funds for any abortion-provider. Sue Swayze of Indiana Right to Life tells OneNewsNow Planned Parenthood made a poor choice.
 
"As our governor is fond of saying, they could have simply stopped providing abortions in order to comply with the new law," the pro-lifer explains, "but instead [they] have chosen to stop serving women's health patients and keep the abortion side of the house." Swayze calls that "a telling statement of where their priorities lie."
 
Does that mean Medicaid patients will have to do without breast exams, pap tests, birth control, and other healthcare services Planned Parenthood provided?
 
"Absolutely not," responds the activist. "In fact, Indiana has over 800-plus Medicaid providers throughout the state as well as upwards of 100 freestanding family planning clinics -- Title X, and other kinds of family planning clinics. There are lots of other providers."
 
Swayze also says one would hope Planned Parenthood would care enough about its clients to refer them to other facilities where they can get the medical assistance, rather than just dumping them. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is threatening to halt all Medicaid funding to Indiana.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

U.S. House Votes to Prevent Telemedicine Grants from Covering Abortion Pill

     

The U.S. House of Representatives passed an agriculture spending bill Thursday, and included an amendment to prevent the telemedicine funds in the measure from covering telemed abortions.

Planned Parenthood clinics in Iowa were the first in the country to sell so-called telemed abortions, in which an abortionist in another location consults with a woman over a webcam and then uses a remote control to open a drawer containing RU-486 for her to take. The woman and the abortionist never meet in person.

"I applaud the House of Representatives for passing my important pro-life amendment," said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. "American taxpayers should not be asked to subsidize abortions, and federal telemedicine grants should not be used to enable abortion providers like Planned Parenthood to dispense the RU-486 abortion drug.

"My amendment ensures that no telemedicine grant money in the Agriculture Appropriations bill will be spent for any purpose that enables abortionists to perform 'telemed abortions.' Cutting off this source of funding for this procedure will save the lives of women and unborn babies."

At least six women have died in the U.S. in connection with RU-486, and at least 950 cases of serious side effects have been reported.

Source: CitizenLink

'Bringing America Back to Life' Annual National Right to Life Convention Returns to Florida

     

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, brings its annual convention back to the Sunshine State June 23-25, at the Hyatt Regency Riverfront in Jacksonville, Florida.  The convention last came to Florida in 1998.

Every summer pro-life individuals from across the country and around the world gather at the National Right to Life convention to exchange ideas, share information and join together in the common goal of ensuring protection for all innocent human life.  Attendees include leaders of National Right to Life's chapters and state affiliates, veteran pro-life activists and new members who have only recently taken up the cause of life.

"The National Right to Life Convention truly is the premiere pro-life educational event of the year," said National Right to Life President Carol Tobias.  "Every attendee -- from the most seasoned activist to the newest members of our movement -- will leave empowered with information about abortion, assisted suicide, embryo-killing research, and the Obama health care law and will be motivated to share that information in their own communities."

This year's convention is hosted by National Right to Life's Florida affiliate, Florida Right to Life, and offers more than 70 workshops and general sessions featuring experts who will address the broad spectrum of pro-life issues.

Guest speakers at this year's convention include National Right to Life President Carol Tobias, Executive Editor of The Weekly Standard and Fox News Contributor Fred Barnes, former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson,  recording artist Jaime Thietten, abortion survivor Melissa Ohden, author Angela Franks, Ph.D., ethicist Steven Zielinski, M.D., J.D., and photojournalist Michael Clancy.  The convention will also feature a Republican presidential candidate forum on Friday morning.

Additionally, American Victims of Abortion, an outreach program of National Right to Life, will mark its 25th anniversary with a series of workshops exploring the impact of abortion on both women and men in the country and the very real prevalence of post-abortion syndrome among women who have had abortions.

National Teens for Life (NTL) will also hold its 26th annual convention concurrently with workshops and sessions geared specifically toward educating and mobilizing the next generation of pro-life activists.

Reporters MUST have credentials in order to attend the convention.  To register for credentials, complete and return the form available here or call Jessica Rodgers in the NRLC Communications Department at (202) 626-8825.  An informal breakfast briefing will be held for reporters at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 23rd.  Please note on the form, or when you call, if you will be attending the breakfast briefing.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation's oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.

National Right to Life Convention 2011
June 23-25 -- Jacksonville, Florida -- Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront
"Bringing America Back to Life!"

--  Major Sessions  --

Thursday, June 23, 2011

10:00 - 11:30 am
Opening General Session & Welcome
"Bringing America Back to Life!"
Fred Barnes, Executive Editor The Weekly Standard and FoxNews Contributor
Carol Tobias, NRLC President
Hon. Lynda Bell, NRLC Vice-Chairman of the Board
Special Tribute to Dr. Mildred Jefferson, former NRLC President

12:45 - 2:15 pm
General Session
"Planned Parenthood: The Hyper-Political, Under-Regulated, Out-of-Control Mega-Marketer of Abortion"
Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood Director
Randall K. O'Bannon, Ph.D., NRLC Director of Education and Research
Mary Spaulding Balch, J.D., NRLC Director of State Legislation
Reverend Dennis C. Day, NRLC Treasurer

Friday, June 24, 2011

7:30  - 9:00 am 
Annual Prayer Breakfast
"The Apathy is Killing Me!"
Melissa Ohden, abortion survivor
Bishop Felipe Estevez, Diocese of St. Augustine
Music by recording artist Jaime Thietten
Ernest L. Ohlhoff, NRLC Director of Outreach

9:30  - 11:30 am           
NRLC Republican Presidential Candidate Forum
Carol Tobias, NRLC President
David O'Steen, Ph.D., NRLC Executive Director
Darla St. Martin, NRLC Co- Executive Director
Confirmed: Herman Cain, Hon. Rick Santorum, Hon. Ron Paul

Saturday, June 25, 2011

9:30 - 11:00 am
General Session   
"Fighting Denial of Life-Saving Treatment"
Bobby Schindler, Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network
Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo, Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network
Burke Balch, J.D., Director, NRLC Powell Center for Medical Ethics
David N. O'Steen, Ph.D., NRLC Executive Director

8:00 - 11:00 pm
Closing Banquet
"In the Blink of an Eye -- How One Photo Changed the Abortion Debate"
Michael Clancy, Photojournalist
Hon. Geline B. Williams, NRLC Chairman of the Board
Music by recording artist Jaime Thietten

Contact: Derrick Jones or Jessica Rodgers
Source: National Right to Life Committee

Embryonic stem cells only create false hope

     

Research demonstrates that embryonic stem cells are not an effective resource for treatment and create false hope for a cure, according to a professor from the University of Milan, in Italy.

"This situation helps to nourish the uncritical mentality that demonizes any attempt at regulation as anti-scientific and against progress. Moreover, 'stem' has become a sort of magic word that gives added value to everything from cosmetics to the most absurd therapeutic ideas," said professor Augusto Pessina of the University of Milan.

The professor's remarks were published in a June 14 article in the Vatican daily, L'Osservatore Romano.

In May of this year, the German government ordered the closure of the XClinic, which provided treatment for cerebral palsy, Parkinson's and spinal cord conditions, after an 18-month-old baby died in October of 2010 from an injection of embryonic stem cells into the brain.

A few months earlier, a 10-year-old child was left severely disabled after undergoing a similar procedure.

Pessina pointed to these cases in his article titled, "Hope is not nourished by lies."

"There is a lot of false information and lies in stem cell biomedicine, whether about biological knowledge or clinical applications," he said.

He noted that one can find hundreds of sites on the internet that make "unrealistic promises" to cure "almost any pathology" with "at best therapies that have not been approved or that in other cases are useless or even dangerous to one's health."

The Committee for Advanced Therapies in Europe has already warned that this phenomenon "contributes to the discrediting of proper scientific research carried out in accord with ethical norms," such as research with umbilical cord stem cells, which have been shown to be effective in various therapies.

Pessina said "correct and honest information" is urgently needed to prevent more unethical cases.
He went on to denounce the media for uncritically applauding procedures that have not been verified, thus causing biomedical information to be poorly received and "generating in patients and family members unfounded hopes and bitter disappointments."

"Lies must not be used to raise the hopes of the sick," he warned. 

On the other hand, he pointed to the case of France, where several days ago research with embryonic stem cells was prohibited despite protests that called the decision obscurantist and contrary to freedom of research.

"In biological research today—where the principle that whatever can be technically done is licit seems to rule—the French law represents a courageous move that seeks to defend the dignity of the human person," Pessina stated.

Source: CNA/EWTN News

US bishops approve first collective statement on assisted suicide

       

On June 16 the U.S. bishops approved a document on assisted suicide, which will become their first collective word on the matter.  The statement, entitled "To Live Each Day with Dignity," refutes the idea that assisted suicide is a compassionate form of medical treatment.

"Getting rid of yourself is a false choice," said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, chairman of the bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, in a press conference following debate on the document at the bishops' spring meeting in Bellevue, Wash.

"The Church needs to respond in a timely and visible way to this renewed challenge, which will surely be pursued in a number of states in the years to come," the pro-life chairman said.

The document required 180 positive votes from the bishops and received 191.

In "To Live Each Day with Dignity," the bishops define true compassion as "meeting patients' needs and … a commitment to their equal worth." This mentality contrasts sharply with physician-assisted suicide's elimination of the patient, as a means of ending suffering.

The bishops also state that the mindset of assisted suicide, if allowed into society, must "inevitably" target people with chronic illness and disabilities "whose suffering is considered serious enough for assisted death."

At the press conference, Cardinal DiNardo also warned that the medical field risks losing its basic identity if it moves away from preserving life.

Rather than treating life itself as an illness, the bishops argue, physicians must provide "life-affirming palliative care" in keeping with "the principle of equal and inherent human rights and the ethical principles of the medical profession."

Oregon was the first U.S. state to legalize assisted suicide in 1994. A popular referendum legalized the practice in Washington in 2008, and Montana's Supreme Court declared it legal in 2010.

Contact: Katherine Veik
Source: CNA/EWTN News

Report: Fewer Planned Parenthood clinics in U.S.

     

A pro-life group's annual report on the nation's largest abortion provider shows that even though Planned Parenthood is still making money, it is suffering some setbacks.
 
Although federal and state governments continue to pump millions of dollars into Planned Parenthood, Jim Sedlak, vice president of the American Life League (ALL), tells OneNewsNow the abortion provider suffered some setbacks, according to the pro-life group's 2010 report.

"They closed down several dozen clinics this year," he notes. "They are down to 785 clinics, which is the lowest number they've been at since 1986."

Some were closed due to a lack of business, and others threw in the towel because of states' reduced or eliminated funds. Even so, Planned Parenthood continues to promote abortions because it is a money-maker.

Sedlak says, "Their latest statistics, which came out in January, said they did 332,287 abortions in 2009, and they're looking to do even more" by increasing the promotion of RU-486 by 20 percent. Meanwhile, surgical abortions have suffered a slight decrease.

"Over 40 percent of Planned Parenthood clinics now do surgical or medical abortions, and Planned Parenthood says it wants more of them to do that," the ALL vice president explains. Yet the organization routinely claims that abortion is only a small percentage of its business.

Furthermore, the clinic chain continues to promote abortion, even though surveys show that Americans do not want their tax dollars to fund the procedure.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

Illinois investigation uncovers 4,000 underreported abortion complications (in one year alone) and six abortion deaths

     

Good for the Chicago Tribune, revealing today some shocking statistics it uncovered when investigating shoddy records reporting by Illinois abortion clinics and the lax Illinois Department of Public Health overseeing them:

Health care providers are failing to detail abortion complications to the state as required by law….

Nearly 4,000 reports of abortion complications involving Illinois residents in 2009 were missing the required description.

Health care providers who intentionally fail to submit accurate and complete reports are committing a criminal act, and a failure to report abortion complications is grounds for revoking their licenses, but the Department of Public Health has never sought disciplinary action against a provider…..

    

"It's outrageous," declared Maurice Stevenson [pictured] whose wife died in 2002 from infection following an abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Chicago….

A review of malpractice cases revealed other abortion-related complications in IL -  with no way of knowing whether they were reported to the state.

For example, in 2002, after an area woman's uterus was torn in an abortion she began hemorrhaging, went into cardiac shock and was hospitalized for 3 weeks. Several years later, a mother of 3 experienced seizure symptoms and slipped into a coma following her abortion at a city clinic. And in 2009, a teenage girl suffered respiratory and cardiac arrest and died immediately following her abortion in a northern suburb, according to court records….

In certain medical malpractice cases reviewed by the Tribune, women said they were never informed by their provider that the abortion was unsuccessful and later underwent challenging pregnancies, painful deliveries and other complications.

Others suffered anesthesia-related problems, hemorrhaging and infections, according to the suits….

Planned Parenthood of Illinois… could not confirm for the Tribune whether it had reported the 2002 death of Stevenson's wife, only that it had reported the 2008 death of another patient. The organization said it had no reason to believe the 2002 death was not reported but that the records were in storage.

And Family Planning Associates said it could not confirm whether it had reported 3 deaths, in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

A woman who identified herself as a manager of the Women's Aid Clinic of Lincolnwood would not comment on a 2009 death.

Contact: Jill Stanek
Source: JillStanek.com

Congress Takes Up Pro-Life Legislation

     

More than once, the U.S. Congress has failed to pass the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA), which would require parents to be notified if their minor daughter has an abortion anywhere in the country.

Now, Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Orrin Hatch of Utah are looking for co-sponsors to reintroduce the legislation.

Kellie Fiedorek, staff attorney with Americans United for Life, said it's important that lawmakers are taking the issue seriously.

"Oftentimes, abortion providers like Planned Parenthood will encourage minors to go to states where the laws are less strict," she said.

"Parental consent is required for getting your ears pierced or to get an aspirin or Tylenol or to get a tattoo, and abortion is so much more serious and so much more risk to a young girl's health and to her life."

Meanwhile, the U.S. House is expected to vote soon on a pro-life amendment that would help to protect human embryos.

The measure would put the Weldon Amendment into law, ensuring that patents would not cover human beings. Similar legislation already has been passed by the Senate.

Fiedorek said there has been an eagerness among researchers to patent and market human embryos.

Source: CitizenLink

Right to life finally gets 'right ruling'

     

An Ohio federal judge has ruled that that state's law for dispensing the abortion drug RU-486 is constitutional, but that it should be used according to the Federal Drug Administration's (FDA) regulations.
 
The law was passed in 2004, but according to Ohio Right to Life executive director Mike Gonidakis, Planned Parenthood did not plan to comply.

"Planned Parenthood was doing...off-label prescriptions of the drug. The FDA required no more than 49 days, [or] seven weeks, could the RU-486 be prescribed, and yet Planned Parenthood wanted to prescribe it at a later date," the Ohio pro-lifer reports. "We challenged that in court, and finally, we got the right ruling."

Gonidakis emphasizes that the ultimate goal is for RU-486 to never be prescribed. But if it is to be used, he argues it ought to be done according to federal guidelines for the sake of the women involved.

"Over 1,200 women have been hurt by RU-486, and it's led to some deaths," he notes. "This drug is a dangerous drug to begin with; it shouldn't be even on the market. Yet now, we're able to get these pro-life laws back in place that Planned Parenthood's been trying to block for years."

He concludes the abortion business is motivated by profit, as they can make more money off RU-486 than from surgical abortions.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

Planned Parenthood protecting profit

     

Planned Parenthood of South Dakota has filed suit to block the state's new pro-life law, and one pro-lifer believes the abortion-provider is only out to protect its money-maker.
 
The new law requires a 72-hour waiting period, complete information on the abortion process and its possible consequences, and counseling at a pro-life pregnancy center to make sure the mother understands alternatives to abortion before she undergoes the procedure. Dr. Allan Unruh, a Sioux Falls "Vote Yes for Life" advocate, says the law also prohibits coerced abortions.

"It's also in response to live testimony given by Planned Parenthood in the Eighth Circuit, where they admitted that there is no doctor-patient relationship," Dr. Unruh explains. "By their testimony, a lot of women are crying their eyes out during an abortion, there's a lot of coercion, [and] they don't have any qualified or trained people to counsel women prior to an abortion."

Plus, says Unruh, a scant medical history is taken from the patient prior to ending the baby's life.

"We can't trust Planned Parenthood to police themselves, because they have a conflict of interest to protect their bottom line," the pro-lifer contends. So he concludes the abortion-provider filed suit to do away with the new measure that will likely reduce abortions and significantly affect the clinic chain's profit.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

OH federal court win on RU-486 could have national impact

     

A first-in-the-nation law that restricts the abortion industry's use of abortion-inducing RU-486 survived another round this week in a case that began 7 years ago. A federal district court in Ohio ruled that the law was "not vague" but could be readily understood by the abortion providers industry. Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest noted that AUL has twice argued that position in two separate amicus briefs during the protracted legal battle and predicted the case would have "national impact."

"The abortion industry has cavalierly given abortion-inducing drugs to women against FDA protocols," said Dr. Yoest. "The courts affirmed the right of states to protect women by requiring proper use of these dangerous drugs. And AUL model legislation on the regulation of RU-486 has been made available nationwide with that protection."

The Ohio regulation in dispute requires abortion providers to comply with the FDA- approved protocol for the drug. On its own website, Planned Parenthood freely admits that RU-486 is given to women who are further along in their pregnancies than the FDA recommends. Ohio enacted the regulation in 2004 after women across the nation died or were severely injured following such "off-label" use of RU-486.

To read AUL's amicus briefs in support of the Ohio law, one before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and one before the Ohio Supreme Court, click here. In both instances, AUL represented members of the U.S. Congress who supported the regulation, including current Speaker of the House John Boehner.

For more information on RU-486 and AUL's model act regulating abortion-inducing drugs, go here.

Source: Americans United for Life

State of Health Insurance Abortion Coverage Opt-Outs

     

Since the passage of Obamacare, officially titled the Paitient Protection and Affordable Care Act, many states have stepped in to fill the loophole allowing taxpayer funding of abortion.  They have accomplished this by passing laws prohibiting abortion coverage in health plans created through the state exchange program set up by Obamacare.  Arizona was the first state to do so in April of last year followed by four other states that session.  Eight more states have passed laws prohibiting abortion coverage in the 2011 session and eight additional states currently have such legislation pending.  The following chart and map gives details:

State	Bill Number	Date Enacted/Status
Passed in 2010:		Total: 5 states
Arizona	AZ SB 1305	4/24/10
Tennessee	TN SB 2686	5/05/10 (Democrat Gov. did not veto or sign, but allowed bill to become law without his signature.)
Mississippi	MS SB 3214	5/24/10
Louisiana	LA HB 1247	7/02/10
Missouri	MO SB 793	7/23/10 (same scenario as TN)
Passed in 2011:		Total: 8 states
Utah	UT HB 354	3/23/11
Idaho	ID S 1115	4/01/11
Virginia	VA HB 2434	4/06/11
Oklahoma	OK SB 547	4/20/11
Indiana	IN HB 1210	5/10/11
Nebraska	NE LB 22	5/18/11
Kansas	KS HB 2075	5/25/11
Florida	FL H 97	6/02/11
		Total passed: 13 states
Not Passed in 2011:
Minnesota	MN HF 201	Vetoed (5/25/11)
Montana	MT SB 176	Vetoed (4/4/11)
Arkansas	AR SB 113	Passed Senate  and House with amendments, then House did not transmit bill back to the Senate for them to concur before adjournment (2/2/11)
Georgia	GA SB 177	Same path as AR (4/12/11)
Rhode Island	RI S 87	Passed Senate (4/6/11)
Alabama	AL SB 202	Passed Senate  (5/24/11)
		Total: 6 states
Pending in 2011 session:
Pennsylvania	PN SB 3	Passed Senate
Ohio	OH HB 79	Reported out of House committee
Wisconsin	WI AB 154/SB 92	In committees of origin
Oregon	OR HB 3600	In House committee
Iowa	HF 576, HSB 57, SF 38	In committees of origin
Michigan	HB 4143/HB 4147	In House committee
South Carolina	SC H 3406/S102	In committees of origin
New Jersey	NJ A 3085	In Assembly committee
		Total: 8 states

Contact: Brianna Walden Source: FRCBlog

New Video from Personhood USA Asks 'Pro-life? What is it?'

     
 
Personhood USA has unveiled a new video that asks an important question of the pro-life movement; "What does it mean to be pro-life?" The group's latest contribution serves as both a moment of self-reflection and a call to action.
 
"This is the key question as we examine where we have been in the last forty years and where we are collectively headed," said Keith Mason, Co-founder of Personhood USA. "The video not only helps answer this question, but we also hope it inspires lifelong pro-lifers and activates a new generation to rally in defense of the lives of every human being."
 
Since their humble beginnings in 2008, Personhood USA has provided support and assistance for grassroots groups campaigning for constitutional personhood amendments and personhood legislation. These measures seek to secure the God-given and natural right to life of every human being from our biological beginnings and throughout every stage of development.
 
Personhood amendments reached the ballot in Colorado in both 2008 and 2010. Residents of Mississippi are set to vote on a similar measure in November, Amendment 26, that would define the term "person," as used in the Mississippi Bill of Rights, to "include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof."
 
In 1973's infamous Roe v. Wade decision, Justice Harry Blackmun wrote, "If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant's case [for decriminalized abortion], of course, collapses." By filling this hole, personhood laws are on solid legal footing to end abortion and provide protections from emerging biotechnologies including abortion inducing drugs, human cloning, and deadly medical research.
 
"Clearly, we see now that the battle for human dignity has expanded to a range of issues all centered around a denial of the most basic of human rights," Mason continues. "The age-based discrimination perpetrated against the preborn is a 21st century issue that requires a return to very foundations of law and human rights: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.'"
 
To view "Pro-life? What is it?" please visit www.PersonhoodUSA.com.

Contact: Keith Mason
Personhood USA

Abortion -- age-based discrimination

     

A new organization has been formed to educate college student on how to fight for the lives of unborn babies.
 
Mark Harrington, former head of The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, has left after 12 years to create the new group, Created Equal.
 
"Unfortunately in today's world, equality means everything other than equality between the pre-born and the born," he laments. "So we felt that the name speaks well of what we're trying to communicate, and that is that abortion is simply aged-based discrimination."
 
Created Equal will be taking its outreach and training program to more university students to make sure that pro-life scholars are fully trained to carry the torch.
 
"We can have a gigantic presentation, such as The Genocide Awareness Project, but if we don't transfer that to the next generation, then we're not getting it done," Harrington explains. "So what we're going to emphasize is the transferability of the project so that students will carry on the work once we're gone."
 
He points out that members of the pro-life movement are aging, so the concept of life, as opposed to abortion, must be grasped by today's youth. Harrington and Created Equal are working to establish a succession plan to accomplish that.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow

Jack Kevorkian Dead

     

Not by assisted suicide.  From the Detroit Free Press story:

Known as Dr. Death even before launching his fierce advocacy and practice of assisted suicides, Kevorkian, 83, died at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, where he had been hospitalized with kidney and heart problems. His attorney, Mayer Morganroth, said it appears Kevorkian suffered a pulmonary thrombosis when a blood clot from his leg broke free and lodged in his heart. With Kevorkian was his niece Ava Janus and Morganroth. "It was peaceful, he didn't feel a thing," Morganroth said.

Kevorkian was a disturbed man who, I fear, understood his society–and the media–all too well.  And that may be his legacy.  He perceived how far some will bend to rationalize even the most egregious wrongdoing or advocacy if the excuse is relieving suffering.  Time will tell if he was also a prophet of a dark utilitarian society to come.

What is the proper response to the death of someone like Kevorkian? We should, at least for the moment, set disputes aside and hope that in whatever comes next, he finds forgiveness and peace.  In this regard, Kevorkian was a death-obsessed atheist who zealously believed that when he died–nothing.  He now knows (or doesn't) whether he was right.

Contact: Wesley J. Smith
Source: Secondhand Smoke

 

Pro-life Group Asks MTV to Reconsider Decision to Yank Ads

     

Heroic Media is hoping MTV will have a change of heart and reconsider pulling a pro-life ad campaign from its airwaves.

"Heroic Media has asked MTV to reconsider the decision and allow Heroic Media and other organizations to make women aware of the availability of life-affirming resources," group spokeswoman Marissa Gabrysch told CNA on May 24.

The Texas-based pro-life group recently announced its We Can Help campaign, which was set to air for several weeks on the MTV and BET networks, starting May 2.

However, the ads – which provided practical information for women with unexpected pregnancies – were pulled after one airing.

MTV spokeswoman Jeannie Kedas told Fox News that the network cut the ads because of a controversial billboard campaign in New York City by a group with connections to Heroic Media.

On February 22, pro-life group Life Always displayed a prominent billboard depicting a young black girl beneath the phrase "The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb." The ad was removed within days, despite the protests of pro-life supporters around the U.S., including Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York.

Although MTV claims that the billboard is the main reason behind the cuts, Bill Eisner – head of Nonbox, a brand agency representing Heroic Media – argues that the real issue is the ads' conflict with some of the promotions between the network and Planned Parenthood.

Although the television network has denied the connection, Eisner says one of his network sales representative confirmed that MTV president Stephen Friedman chose to nix the ads because of the projects currently in place with Planned Parenthood.

Eisner added that MTV did not inform Heroic Media its ads had been canceled, and that the pro-life group reportedly found out after being contacted by a reporter.

Despite having its spots canceled, Gabrysch said, "Heroic Media remains committed to airing positive messages that connect women with hopeful alternatives to abortion."

"Everything Heroic Media does is designed to reach women where they are," she added, noting that when a woman learns "about compassionate, positive alternatives to abortion, she'll choose life."

Source: CNA

Tom Roeser, Rest in Peace

     

Illinois conservative leader Tom Roeser will be laid to rest this Saturday, and Friday evening he will lie in state in Park Ridge.  Mrs. Lillian Roeser sends her appreciation to Illinois Review readers for the kind comments written about her husband. 

The Chicago Daily Observer provides these details:

Tom Roeser's visitation will be Friday, 4 to 9 p.m. at Nelson Funeral Home, 820 Talcott Road, Park Ridge. A funeral will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday at St. John Cantius Church, 825 N. Carpenter St. in Chicago followed by burial at Interment All Saints Cemetery, 700 N. River Road in Des Plaines.

In lieu of flowers, the Roeser family has requested that donations be made to the Haymarket Center, a comprehensive alcohol and other drug treatment organization on the Near West Side of Chicago, founded by Msgr. Ignatius McDermott and long supported by Tom Roeser.

ILLINOIS HOUSE HONORS CONSERVATIVE TOM ROESER

Sponsored by House Minority Leader Tom Cross and House Speaker Michael Madigan, HR 444 passed the Illinois House Tuesday to honor Illinois conservative icon, WLS-AM 890's Tom Roeser who passed away Sunday at age 82. Click here for more.

You Are Funding Forced Abortions in China through UNFPA

     

The following is submitted by Reggie Littlejohn, Founder and President of Women's Rights Without Frontiers:

You are funding forced abortions in China. So am I. Not only elective abortions. Forced abortions. It doesn't matter whether you are pro-life or pro-choice on this issue. No one can support forced abortion, because it is not a choice.

What do I mean by "forced abortions?" Here's a short video about a young, Chinese woman who was dragged off the street, strapped to a table and forced to abort at seven months (www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjtuBcJUsjY). You can read many more accounts of forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide under China's brutal One Child Policy here.

According to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China report, released on October 10, 2010, violators of China's One Child Policy continue to be victims of "forced sterilization, forced abortion, arbitrary detention, and other abuses."

The One Child Policy has also led to many other serious human rights violations. I'll name just three:

Gendercide. Because of the traditional preference for boys, girls are disproportionately subject to abortion, abandonment and infanticide.
 
Sexual Slavery. There are now an estimated 37 million more males than females living in China today. This severe gender imbalance is a powerful, driving force behind trafficking in women and sexual slavery from nations surrounding China.
 
Female Suicide. According to the World Health Organization, China has the highest female suicide rate of any country in the world. Approximately 500 Chinese women end their lives each day. Could this extraordinary suicide rate be related to the trauma of enduring a forced abortion or forced sterilization?

How does this affect us? Through UNFPA, we are helping finance the infrastructure used in coercive family planning in China. In 2001, the US stopped funding UNFPA on the basis that it is complicit in coercive family planning in China. In 2008, the US State Department reaffirmed that assessment, yet we restored funding in 2009.

Just last week, US citizens voted to cut UNFPA funding under the new YOUCUT program (majorityleader.gov/YouCut/P2_W1.htm).  Because of this vote, Rep. Renee Ellmers will introduce legislation to cut UNFPA, saving $400 million over the next ten years. The bill still needs to pass through committee and be passed by the House to become effective, so you still have time to contact your representative about it.

To sign an international petition against forced abortion and sexual slavery in China, click here.

Contact: Reggie Littlejohn
source: Women's Rights Without Frontiers